The impact on foodways in the Muslim occupation of Iberia : the case of medieval al-Andalus

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to assess the impact of the Muslim occupation of medieval Iberia on the way of life of the incumbent population, including culture, and to test if such impact carries traces to this very day. As mentioned previously, this will follow up on Horden and Purcell’s theory of connectivity in the Mediterranean, over both space as well as time. I believe that such work contributes to Mediterranean studies as it would illustrate that the encounter of two cultures from the extremities of the Mediterranean Sea over a thousand years ago, has some reverberations even today. This assessment will be done predominantly through a study of the transfer of foodways, as already mentioned and described. A description of new crops introduced by Muslim Arabs into medieval al-Andalus will be included, together with the impact that such new crops and the relevant new cooking techniques had on generations of Iberians for centuries.